


realize

by stydiasforever



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 3+1, F/M, Oblivious Stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 13:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4103338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stydiasforever/pseuds/stydiasforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The three times Lydia tries showing Stiles how she feels and the one time she tells him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	realize

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is for martinsti on tumblr (she's really awesome so definitely go follow her)  
> also the title is based on realize by colbie caillat which is such a stydia song

i.

 

Every small town had a restaurant or bar or whatever that was the town’s unofficial hang-out spot, the place where you could go any given night and run into practically everyone you know, not because the food was amazing or the service was great but simply because it was where everyone went.

 

For Beacon Hills, that place was the Beacon Bar & Grill, located on the outskirts of town near the preserve. Each Friday night, most of the high school’s population could be found there with fake IDs and an appetite for the all-you-can-eat chicken wings. The wings weren’t actually all that good and their live band was awful, but unless you wanted to drive a few hours to San Francisco, it was about as good as it got.

 

Lydia was perfectly fine with spending “pack nights” in Scott’s basement playing board games or watching movies, which is what they did about ninety-nine percent of the time, so she was a bit surprised when he suggested they go out instead. She was even more surprised when Malia and Liam didn’t show up, meaning she and Stiles were basically on a double date with Scott and Kira.

 

“This song’s actually not bad,” Kira commented as the band, which consisted of four guys in their thirties who never really left Beacon Hills, commenced a new song.

 

“That’s because it’s an Ed Sheeran song,” Lydia muttered, taking a sip of her iced tea. “Why did Scott want to come here again?”

 

Kira shrugged. “No clue. They seem to be having fun, though.”

 

Across the room, Scott and Stiles were standing by the pool table and laughing hysterically about something. Lydia had to admit, it was was nice to see them relaxing and having a good time. Since the Benefactor debacle, there had been no major supernatural problems, giving them all a chance to focus on living instead of just surviving.

 

"It's nice to see him laughing," Lydia said quietly, "for a while, I wasn't sure he would ever be like that again. He may be a sarcastic idiot half the time, but..."

 

"But you love him," Kira interjected, a smile on her face.

 

Lydia looked away, a blush creeping onto her face, but she didn't hesitate to give a small nod. She supposed Kira had known about her feelings for Stiles for a while, but they'd never talked about it so openly before.

 

"Is it that obvious?" Lydia mumbled, twirling the straw in her drink with her fingers.

 

Kira shrugged. "Probably not to everyone; but to people who know you well like Scott and I...it's pretty clear that you're into him."

 

Lydia sighed, running a hand through her hair and burying her face in her palms. She had never been the type to pine over a guy; the roles were much more commonly reversed. If she really wanted someone, she would simply go for it. When it came to Stiles Stilinski, though, her confidence vanished into thin air and the walls she put up to protect herself came tumbling down.

 

He made her feel vulnerable.

 

"What are you waiting for?" Kira asked after a few more moments of Lydia staring longingly at him. "You're both single, you both like each other-go over there and talk to him!"

 

Lydia reluctantly stood up, hesitating until Kira gave her a push in the right direction-literally-and she stumbled across the room to where her two friends stood by the pool table.

 

"Hey guys," Lydia said, setting her drink down on a nearby bar table. "Mind if I join?"

 

"Course not," Scott grinned, wrapping his arm around Kira's waist as soon as she joined them.

 

Stiles, realizing it was his turn, walked up to the table and took a shot. Lydia knew absolutely nothing about pool, but it looked good to her, and Stiles seemed satisfied enough that she figured it was a good shot. He passed her the stick, signifying that it was her turn, and an idea formed in her brain as she took it from him.

 

"Stiles, want to help me out a bit?" she asked, nodding towards the pool table.

 

She'd seen enough movies to get a perfect mental image of Stiles wrapping his arms around her and affectionately helping her position herself for a shot, as horribly cliche as it was.

 

"Alright," Stiles grinned, approaching her.

 

She got into what she assumed was the right position, waiting for Stiles to slide his arms around her body and help her, but he simply leaned over the table and moved her stick for her so it was in alignment with the balls and then backed away, giving her a thumbs up.

 

Muttering curse words under her breath, she stood up straight and put down the stick.

 

"Actually, I'm starving, why don't we get something to eat?" Lydia suggested,

 

Stiles and Scott glanced at each other and shrugged, beginning to walk over to the bar.

 

ii.

Lydia loved living in California. She loved beach days and tanning by her pool and wearing short skirts with heels year-round. She couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Stiles, on the other hand, wasn’t as keen on Beacon Hills’ scalding hot summers as she was.

 

“Ninety-five degrees. It’s ninety-five freaking degrees outside. I mean, do we live in hell?”

 

Stiles was in the middle of one of his neverending and often excessively long rants as they sat in Lydia’s backyard on plastic pool chairs. It was early August, and as Stiles had taken some extra courses during the summer to get ahead for senior year in interest of getting his marks up and getting into a good college, Lydia had offered to help him study. More often than not, they ended up sitting by her pool or watching movies in his basement, not that she had any complaints on the matter.

 

“No, we live in California,” Lydia quipped, a smirk on her face.

 

“Same thing,” Stiles shrugged, “I think I’m more of an east coast person. Maybe Boston, or Vermont or something, I’ve heard Maine’s really nice too…”

 

She heard him ramble on about states, but she found herself focusing on his lips as he spoke and his eyes as they reflected the sunlight and his arms as he folded them over his chest, making his muscles appear more defined. Over the past several months, her attraction to Stiles had escalated rapidly. She’d had some form of feelings for him for quite some time beforehand, but after he broke up with Malia and they had started spending a lot of time together again, she had found it much more difficult to deny her feelings for him, and she didn’t really want to.

 

The only problem? Stiles was completely oblivious.

 

“...But Seattle would be cool too, and it’s closer to my dad and stuff, you know?”

 

“Yeah, absolutely,” Lydia smiled, as if she had been listening attentively the entire time.

 

After a few moments of silence, she decided it was time to try something. If there was one thing she knew about guys, it was that you pretty much always have to make the first move, and obviously, Stiles was no exception. Luckily, flirting was her specialty.

 

“We’re sitting here talking about how hot it is, but there’s a perfectly good pool right in front of us,” Lydia mused, taking off her sunglasses and setting them on the table between them. “I think I’m gonna go for a swim, you in?”

 

“Nah, you go ahead,” Stiles smiled, taking a handful of pretzels from the bowl Lydia had put out.

Okay, time for plan B, Lydia thought. She stood up, slipping off her jean shorts and plain black tank top so she wore only a hot pink bikini. She let her hair out of a ponytail so it cascaded down her back in loose waves. She tossed her clothes to the side and walked over to the pool.

 

“You’re sure you don’t want to join me?” she asked, turning to face him.

 

Stiles was quite obviously appreciating her body, but her flirtatious remarks seemed to have gone unnoticed, since after he finished checking her out, he looked somewhat indifferent.

 

“I’m good, thanks,” Stiles replied, “maybe we should just go inside and get back to studying, I have a big math test on Friday.”

 

Lydia rolled her eyes, pulling her top over her head and practically storming in the house while Stiles grabbed the bowl of pretzels and strolled in behind her.

 

iii.

By the time school started in late August, Lydia was more than ready to be back. Although she'd had a relaxing and fairly enjoyable summer, she found that having no school work to do and nothing to push her mentally, she was often bored.

 

She'd been mentally and physically preparing herself for whatever supernatural threat was bound to ruin their senior year, but even after the first few weeks there didn't seem to be anything remotely dangerous or threatening in Beacon Hills. No Japanese demons, no freaky assassins, no giant lizards. Nothing.

 

They had more free time on their hands than they had in forever, time to do normal teenager activities like studying for tests or going to parties, both of which they hadn't done much of since sophomore year. So when homecoming rolled around, Lydia didn't see any reason not to go.

 

"It might be fun," Lydia suggested as they sat down at their regular lunch table. "We didn't go last year, and this is our last one, so we might as well go."

 

Stiles raised an eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, we didn't go last year because we were more concerned with the _human sacrifices_ happening, but-"

 

Scott nudged his best friend in the ribs after a group of girls walked by their table and stared at Stiles like he was insane. He often needed reminders of when and where it was acceptable to discuss supernatural matters, and the school courtyard certainly wasn't one of them.

 

"Lydia's right, we should go," Kira agreed with a smile. "Lydia, Malia, we can go dress shopping this weekend. And the three of you can go get your suits together." She gestured to her boyfriend, along with Stiles and Isaac, who had recently started dating Malia.

 

"I guess this means I'll have to ask someone, then," Stiles said, looking somewhat unamused at the idea as he took a bite of his chicken burger.

 

"Or we could just go together," Lydia suggested casually.

 

When all eyes shot to her immediately, including Stiles', Lydia gave a small shrug, trying to prevent herself from blushing.

 

"I mean, we both don't have dates and we're going as a group anyway, so it makes sense," she reasoned. "Plus, you look good in a suit."

 

She hadn't meant to say the last part, at least not out loud, but it didn't seem to phase Stiles.

 

"Okay, sounds like a plan," he grinned, "it makes sense to carpool anyways, gas prices are crazy right now and there's never anywhere to park on homecoming."

 

Just as he finished speaking, the bell rang and the three boys got up to head off to gym class. Lydia watched as Scott and Isaac kissed their girlfriends goodbye, and Stiles merely smiled at her. As soon as they were gone, Lydia buried her face in her hands in frustration.

 

Malia shook her head, her expression full of confusion. "How is he so..."

 

"Oblivious?" Kira supplied, sipping her lemonade.

 

"I was going to say stupid," the coyote replied, "but that works too."

 

+i.

The homecoming dance was on a Saturday, which meant that Lydia had the entire day to get ready-and the entire day to prepare herself for an entire night as Stiles’ date. She’d thought of millions of excuses to get out of the dance, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. That was the problem with loving Stiles; as much as it terrified her, it excited her even more.

 

By eight o’clock, Lydia was waiting anxiously at the door, a tight-fitting black dress framing her curves and loose curls hanging down her back. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, stopping only when the doorbell rang.

 

As soon as she swung open the door, the tall, not-so-scrawny-anymore boy stood before her, resembling an Armani model in his black suit and tie. Lydia, less casually than she would’ve liked, placed her hand on the door to steady herself.

 

“You look beautiful,” Stiles said bluntly, as if he was merely stating an obvious fact.

 

Lydia merely smiled in response, unable to articulate any form of human speech just yet. In fact, she didn’t speak until they arrived at the school, other than thanking Stiles when he opened the car door for her and muttering a “this is fine” when he asked her if she wanted to listen to something else in the car. It was almost as awkward as their first “date” at the winter formal two years ago, but for entirely different reasons.

 

Stiles took her hand as they walked into the gym, which did not go unnoticed by Scott and Kira, who both gave Lydia a knowing smile while she tried to ignore the warm, fluttering feeling in her chest as Stiles ran his thumb up and down the back of her hand.

 

“Hey guys,” Stiles said, finally letting go of Lydia’s hand and resting his palm on the small of her back instead (which was much worse.)

 

“Hey,” Kira said with a grin, kissing Scott’s cheek quickly before looking at Stiles. “Mind if I borrow your date for a minute?”

 

Stiles shook his head, letting go of Lydia and allowing Kira to take his date by the arm and lead her away from the dance floor. Lydia willingly followed the other girl to the refreshments table, secretly hoping that someone had already spiked the punch.

 

-

 

When Stiles didn’t ask her to dance at the first slow song, Lydia thought nothing of it. After the second and third, she began to feel anxious, and by the fifth she was downright humiliated.

 

The dance was drawing to a close and the final slow song began to play, and the pair still sat at their table in silence, avoiding eye contact at all costs. Lydia was seriously contemplating asking Stiles to drive her home when Sarah Garland, a pretty, blonde sophomore, approached them with a big smile on her face.

 

“Hey, Stiles, I was just wondering if you wanted to dance with me?” she asked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear nervously.

 

Stiles looked surprised at first, but then he returned the younger girl’s smile. “I’d love to, but I’m actually here with a date. You should go ask my friend Liam over there, I’m sure he’d love to dance with you.”

 

Sarah looked upset for a brief moment, before spotting Liam and rather eagerly walking over in his direction. Lydia continued to stare at Stiles in confusion and disbelief until he met her gaze.

 

“What’s wrong?” he asked, frowning.

Lydia rolled her eyes, sighing heavily and cursing Stiles’ blatant stupidity. She got to her feet, no longer capable of sitting there like some lovesick idiot, and stormed out of the gym, heading towards the parking lot.

 

Naturally, Stiles followed her outside immediately, calling after her.

 

“Lydia!” he shouted, finally catching up to her. “What’s going on?”

 

“Why did you say no to her? She was pretty, she seemed nice, so why did you say no?” Lydia demanded, turning around to face him again.

 

Stiles just blinked, possibly even more confused than he had been before. “Because I came here with you,” he replied simply.

 

“Then why have you ignored me the whole night?” she retorted. “I asked you to come with me for a reason!”

 

“Oh yeah?” Stiles raised an eyebrow. “Enlighten me.”

 

This was the exact moment that Lydia realized there was no going back. She was done with subtle (and not-so-subtle) hints, she was done with longing and lusting over a boy who seemingly had no idea.

 

“Fine. It’s because I like you, idiot,” Lydia said bluntly, looking away to hide the vulnerability in her eyes. “I like you a lot.”

 

Stiles furrowed his eyebrows, his mouth hanging open slightly as if there were words on the tip of his tongue that he couldn’t quite manage to get out.

 

“Why didn’t you...I mean...why didn’t you say anything?” Stiles asked, still looking at her in disbelief.

 

“I tried!” she exclaimed. “I tried to drop hints and flirt with you and make it clear that I was interested, but it all went right over your head, and I was probably just being stupid since you clearly don’t feel that way anymore and-”

 

Lydia took a step away from him, turning away to spare herself some of the immense embarrassment she was feeling in that moment, each passing second of silence making it that much worse.

 

“I never stopped, Lydia,” he said softly after a few more moments. “Not for one split second since I first laid eyes on you ten years ago have I stopped loving you.”

 

Before she could turn around again, she felt a warm hand on her shoulder, spinning her around so that her chest was pressed against his. She saw the huge grin on his face, something she hadn’t had the privilege of seeing in god knows how long, and a matching smile spread across hers. Her arms slid around his neck, the action feeling completely natural and instinctual.

 

“Took you long enough,” Lydia said, her cheeks turning red as his hands found her waist.

 

He chuckled, smirking slightly. “I could say the same thing to you.”

  
And when he kissed her moments later, they both knew it was worth the wait. 

**Author's Note:**

> i'm blakesgrffin on tumblr :)


End file.
